


Be careful what you ask for.

by lokiofvanheim



Category: Finder no Hyouteki | Finder Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-09 03:05:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6887008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokiofvanheim/pseuds/lokiofvanheim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because Akihito might just have got what he thought he wanted and found that the grass is rarely as green as you think on the other side!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Be careful what you ask for.

Takaba was enjoying his freedom was he not? His old friends saw more of him and he could come and go as he pleased with only an occasional glimpse of suited men that may or may not have been watching him and that is what he had always said that he wanted. They were never Todo or Kirishima or Suoh or HIM. He had convinced himself that a decently paid photojournalists post with Vogue Orient was what he wanted now he was a grown man with a tiny but serviceable flat two blocks away from Takato. He would become a salary man and be able to pay his bill's this month, in fact now he had a modest, a very modest, savings pot which his mother would have been proud of him for planning to top up by a little every month. His life was normal and flowed around him like the calm river he had so envied when he had lived with the danger and chaos that was Asami Ryuichi. He should be content, happy even but he didn't think that this was what happy felt like.

"Cheer up, Aki,"  Kou said bouncing with excitement as they stood in the queue." we are meant to be celebrating your birthday, dude!"

"I know, I know," Akihito was trying to join in with his friends cheerful mood and although he just couldn't feel it he pasted a smile on his face." It is going to be cool!"

"Sooo cool!" His friend agreed standing up on tiptoe to check out how far they were from the club doors. "We are OK for time too!"

"For a change!" The little blond's smile was more genuine this time as he realised how much Kou looked like a Meerkat on lookout with his long neck and round black eyes. " That's because Takato told us to be here at ten and he knew that The Reaper does not start his stint until midnight that's nearly an hour away!"

The queue edged forward slowly and they moved with it surrounded by beautifully dressed young people who seemed to have made more effort than they had to dress up for this evenings dancing. Many of them were wearing European style rave clothing and a couple of girls in front of them were applying fluorescent green and orange paint to their faces and arms. One of the girls had been smiling at him since they arrived and he was wondering if he knew her or if she had been on a fashion shoot with him because she was certainly pretty enough. She turned and saw him watching her putting on the lipstick.

"Hi, my name is Dani." she said smiling at him with her orange lips." Would you like to use some of this stuff?"

Akihito checked behind him to see if she were talking to somebody else but Kou jumped forward past him.

"Sure we do, Dani, don't we, Aki?" he said with a big toothy smile on his wide lips as he pulled his friend forward happily joining the girls and rifling through their make up bags for colours. By the time Takato joined them twenty minutes later they were made up like red Indian's on the psychedelic warpath and feeling a bit tipsy after sharing a large flask of vodka that the girls had thoughtfully shared with them too. They were also nearing the half way mark to the brightly lit doors that offered them a bright welcome to the club.

"What in god's name have you done to your faces?" Takato said having almost failed to recognise them beneath the gaudy stripes and dots applied by their new friends.

"Did you bring that bottle?" Kou asked his arm already round the shoulders of one of the girls and waving an empty flask happily in his friends face." We have nearly finished this one!" 

"You look like clowns!" Takato said but looking at Akihito he could see that he still looked miserable despite the girls giggling and blushing as they happily drew matching yellow stripes up either side of his high cheek bones. He ruffled his hand through the shock of wild blond hair." Its good to see you out and about again though, little buddy!"

The boy looked up at his friend and the older man knew then that without a doubt this carefully planned outing was the right thing to do when he saw the deep sadness haunting his friends usually clear sky blue eyes.

"Oooo, have you been sick, pretty?" Cooed one of the girls patting his soft cheek.

" Is that why you are so pale, Aki?" Said the other one giving him a big hug." I just thought you were just a foreigner!"  

"No, no I'm fine, really, my friend is just a worrier!" he blushed scarlet and tried to duck away from the girls attention as Takato and Kou exchanged glances over the smaller boy's head.

"He is not broken then, he still has it!" Takato shrugged with a grin." Bees to a honeypot!" It was always the same with Akihito. whether males or females he was like a magnet and they were used to getting his 'leavings' after their friend rejected them, anyway the girls seemed nice and good fun too so why not join up with them for the evening?

They were all made up with the paints by the time they neared the sparkling light of open doors and the noise of the dance music could begin to be heard coming from the bowels of the new purpose built nightclub, Stardust. Dani was hanging tipsily round his shoulders using a hairbrush as a mike to serenade her really cute new B.F.F. with some of DJ Reapers favourite rifts as they moved up until they were under the striped marquee that now covered their section of the queue as they moved along the pavement.  Kou was nearly vibrating in excitement and for the sake of his companions Akihito tried to stifle a sigh as he and the others were herded forward by the stewards towards the smartly suited bouncers who loomed on either side of the entrance. This was a bad idea he thought and he really did not want to be here especially on his birthday, he began wondering if he could feign illness and leave the others to enjoy a good evening out without him around to lower their spirits. He tried to catch Takato's eye but instead found himself looking straight into the reflective sunglasses of one of the mammoth bouncers who seemed to be staring at him.

He felt an unexpected shiver of excitement run down his spine before the big man turned his head away and his heart sunk again. This was silly, that life was over. He had walked away when he had become a liability to Asami once too often and his lover had ended up having emergency surgery to remove a bullet that were meant for him. It had been his choice after he had cried an ocean of tears during three sleepless nights at the hospital bedside.

"It has always and will always be a risk of my profession." was all Asami eventually said in that deep rumble of voice that even in his memory made his toes curl.

"Then I just cannot bear it!" he wept." If you were killed then I would follow you in a moment into the abyss but if it was because of me......!" Asami had stayed silent as he stuttered out his decision the yakuza's handsome face a calm mask and his golden eyes unreadable and although he had expected nothing more even then he had hoped for a word of protest from his lover. The boy had turned and run leaving the life they had shared behind him.

"Aki?" Kou was asking standing expectantly with the girls beside him."AKI!" 

"Sorry, what did you say?" the blond says shaking his head to focus his thoughts. 

"ID! Aki, your ID!" His friend said smiling nervously up at the towering bouncer who was looming over them and he scrambled in his pocket for his licence before placing it in the slab of meat that the security guard called a hand.

The man peered at him suspiciously and then down at the photo a couple of times.

"Smile!" he boomed loudly, causing the younger man to flinch.

"What?" he stammered nervously.

"The guy in this photo doesn't look like you, you are too miserable looking!" the man loomed closer his big face coming within inches of the others. "Smile!"

Akihito twisted his face into as good a smile as he could muster.

"Rubbish, but it will do." The man said handing back his card but before he moved on to the next customer he added with a surprisingly kindly smile." And cheer up, kid, it may never happen!"

"Come on, Aki, we're in!" Dani said cheerfully as she hooked her hand through his and still crooning to him dragged him through the ornate doors along with the others and into the noisy darkness beyond.

The noise enveloped them like a familiar blanket as they moved along the blacked out corridors with everyone else only to emerge from the gloom into what Dante's inferno would probably have been translated into for the 21st. Century. Half naked bodies writhed and twisted as a mass of humanity danced their myriad clothes would make a peacock blush by comparison as Tokyo youth partied while they all paused for a minute to get their bearings. Akihito stared out across the dance floor with wide eyes with Dani was by now draped around him like a clinging vine both their small bodies swaying slightly thanks to the liquid refreshment they had enjoyed while queuing. Takato acting as scout obviously saw his goal and plunged into the sea of dancers with two of their new friends in tow followed as closely as they could by the rest of the party. Kou being the tallest shepherded his smaller companions from the back acting as both lookout and rear guard from those that seemed to view the pretty newcomers, both the girls and Aki, between he and Takato as potential conquests. 

"In you go," Their leader gestured to the others as he proudly ushered them into a low both on the edge of the dancers." Happy Birthday, little Bro, not bad, eh?"

"Er, thank you, Kou, Takato," he managed although his smile almost hurt his face this time as the others turned their own cheerfully expectant faces towards him." These tickets were a great idea!"

"You are a miracle worker!" The dark eyed girl on Takato's arm cooed standing back while Dani pulled a reluctant Takaba in behind her and the others shuffled in beside them until they sat in a cosy semi circle." This is an amazing table, we can see everything!"

"What does everyone drink?" Takato grinned." First round's on me but make it simple!"

The drinks were expensive but certainly not watered down as Akihito's woosy head informed him as he sipped at his second glassful of bright blue spirits. The floor was crowded and he could see over to where the decks were being set up for what must be DJ Reapers stint and Dani and his friends were insisting on reprising their favourite tunes cheerfully to the world while they waited! He looked round at their happy faces and only wondered how soon he could make up a credible excuse to go home to his narrow bed and wallow in the melancholy he just could not seem to shake off recently. 

The house DJ announced his last set and the floor filled with couples for the slow tunes Takado pulled the dark eyed girl up towards the floor and Dani, to his dismay, smiled over brightly at Aki.

"Come on," she shouted above the noise, her pretty eyes bright through all the paint marks." it will mean we will already have our places when Reaper really starts the night up!"

"Go on, Aki, but drink up first I'm about to go and buy my round!" Kou said holding out his half full glass him to finish and then shoving him insistently from behind while Dani was pulling him from the front until. blushing beetroot red, he was almost manhandled out onto the dance floor after the other pair. He had always been first on the dance floor and always last off, had even been known for harmlessly flirting with the DJ's to play an extra tune or two at the end at the night but he had not had the heart for even listening to his beloved phone collection since the break up with the charismatic yacuza. Dani was already bouncing to the rhythm thumping down from the speakers and he could feel the alcohol burning his mouth right down to his stomach. Whatever it had been it must have been strong stuff or he was just out of practice because he could feel the beginnings of a buzz in his brain and the paint on the face of the girl singing and dancing athletically in front of him seemed to be giving off a heavy glow! A cheer went up from the taller dancers around them who could see the DJ's and the music changed seamlessly the tempo suddenly speeding up.

The Reaper had taken the mike and he could feel from the mood around them that things were about to get much wilder! The beat was as intoxicating to Akihito as any drug and whatever he had drunk seemed to have invigorated him in a way he had not felt in weeks and his body began to weave of its own accord to match Dani's supple young body. And damn it why not? He looked up at the stage and with a jolt he caught a glimpse of a broad suited figure disappearing into one of the darkened booths behind the dais. Suho? Of course not he chided himself sternly they were not even in Shingu and he had Kou check that the club was owned by some business man from Kobe and not Sion before he had agreed to come so it must have been a bouncer and his imagination. His limbs flagged as melancholy settled heavily back onto his shoulders and he turned to retreat back to their table. He saw Takato dancing much more soberly with the dark girl near them and wondered why he looked so serious for a moment before his face split into a sudden smile when he saw the downhearted blond watching him and then gave him an enthusiastic double thumbs up before jumping up in the air with a whoop!

 Dani's little hand grasped his elbow to prevent him leaving and her bright eyes seemed so disappointed at his escape attempt that he hesitated sorry that he might spoil her evening by his dismal mood. If Aki's thoughts were not so woolly with the drink then he might have wondered why Takato's mood had shifted so quickly but soon the drink and the music snagged him again like a fish on a hook and he had no choice but to loose himself in movement instead. He tried to relax and let his body tune into the grinding rhythm and his sternly schooled his head to switch off and let him just react to the music without hi-jacking him again with miserable thoughts.  

The music shifted up into his favourite type with pulsing beats underpinned with a chaotic electronic melody and the buzz in his head made his thoughts too muzzy to keep worrying as his muscles flexed his lithe body into a frenzy of dance. The lights flashed while the bodies round him began to blur and soon he twisted and spun like an otter in his familiar moves and actually began to feel the breath of the euphoria he had enjoyed in more carefree days as he and the girl lost themselves to the moment. Soon sweat slicked his white skin and made his blond hair drip in clumps against his brow and he scarcely noticed the press of the other dancers and hands against his inflamed body until a large one clasped his chin and stole a kiss from his panting mouth.

"Oi!" he objected pushing the man aside without missing a beat and focusing on holding on to the now blurry form of Dani in front of him for balance before continuing to dance freely. He was only vaguely aware of a large somehow familiar body launching itself past him before something heavy hit into his back with a hefty thump, catapulting him forward through the mass of people taking Dani's even smaller body with him towards the ground beside the stage.

"Oof!" he gasped trying not to squash her and barely succeeding by twisting himself and pulling her to landing painfully on him instead his hand smacking backwards and rattling painfully of the solid metal of the DJ's deck stand as they both landed in a heap. Stunned, as the girl scrambled up he tried to still his spinning head and rolled to lie on his side cradling his injured hand to himself protectively.

"Are you OK?" The girl asked anxiously although he could barely hear her shout above the speakers and the buzzing in his ears. He took stock of himself at her question and no, he thought, no he was not. His back and rump hurt and so did his head but it was his hand that was worst and he could see the dark smear of what must be blood oozing from a long shallow cut between his fingers so he held it tightly in his other fist. 

"I think I have ..." he began stammering out before a strong arm appeared before his dazed face and lifted him effortlessly by the front of his sweaty, paint streaked basketball top up on to his wobbly feet. "Hey!"

But he stopped just peering woosily through sweat and pain filled eyes at the broad figure looming over him and then gasped and tried to step away before finding his back pressed against an impassable man mountain of flesh. 

Neither of the impeccably dressed men now towering above them said a word as the tableaux they made seemed frozen in time against the backdrop of the swirling cacophony of the club for a long minute. Akihito hung from the big hand still twined into the thin green material of his flimsy T shirt like a half drowned neon cat his eyes and mouth wide open in shock as he gazed up into the feline gold of his lov... his former lover's eyes!

Their intensity burned through his drunken haze like the purest laser and straight through to his heart which gave a sudden painful lurch within his painted chest.

"As..s..sami?" he breathed in disbelief and then twisting his neck to look up at the giant whose head, from his lowly perspective, seemed to be somewhere up in the overhead spotlights." Kirishima?" The silent giant who appeared to be texting ignored him instead moving to stand with his back towards them as an effective meat shield between the other two men and the dancers beyond as Akihito's world narrowed sharply down to the dark, perfect face staring intently at him. 

"Still finding trouble then, brat?" Oh, how that velvet over steel voice sucked the strength from Akihito's body. There was a long pause as their eyes fixed on each other the amber flaming like molten lava while the boy's blue ones scrolled through emotions as quickly and clearly as the frames in an old film. The older man's stern face gave nothing away but the boy thought that the whole room could hear the emotional dam that burst inside his chest at the mere sight of Asami so close up in the flesh.

"You mean that trouble finds me!" He spluttered out." You are here after all!"

Slim fingers flew up to his mouth in surprise, his face flushing with embarrassment at his own jibe. Surely he had not just said anything that stupid at this delicate moment had he and all at once all he wanted to do was weep! The amber eyes narrowed for an instant then cooled looking into the others shocked ones and he surprisingly gently set the boy back down on to his feet. Silence reigned and his knees begun to wobble under his own slight weight so that Asami kept a hand on his shirt to stop him from falling.

"It's my birthday!" his mouth blurted out suddenly although his brain had frozen and Asami looked at him impassively.

"I know, Akihito." the tall man said his face as calm as a mill pond.

"You remembered?" the boy asked his forehead wrinkling in confusion.

"I do not forget important dates." Akihito's eyes suddenly stung with uninvited tears.

"Im..Important ?" he sniffed as his traitorous nose joined in and begun to trickle a thin stream of snot." Why?"

"Call it habit." a sliver of something moved behind the older man's guarded eyes." It was you who chose to leave the life we shared after all."

"You nearly died because of me!" Akihito was full on crying now but was too overwhelmed by everything to worry about it or notice the strange looks he was getting from a pair of girls heading past them to the restrooms. 

"I told you then and I will repeat it slowly now so that you listen." the tall man said running strong fingers under the boys fragile jaw and raising his head carefully so that the boys tearful eyes met his stoic gaze again." The risk of death is a prerequisite of my lifestyle."

"But It was my fault," he wailed, ignoring whispering behind their hands." they were trying to shoot me!" at those words the girls looked at him with horror and scuttled quickly off.

"You would rather have taken the bullet, silly child?" The man queried tilting his head slightly as he carefully watched the boy's face.

"Of course I would, you crazy bastard!" he sobbed, grabbing at the others expensive jacket and pulling himself closer." I would die for you!"

Silently considering the other's words, the crimelord looked down at the pale snot and tear stained face of the pretty little blond holding on to him so tightly that his knuckles were white. After a minute he sighed and then stood a little straighter, a look of resignation settling across his aristocratic features.

"Then you should understand," he said carefully enunciating his words as he leaned forward to whisper softly in the smaller man's ear." perhaps others might, on the rare occasion, feel the same about you."

Akihito sharply drew in his breath in wet gasp, inhaling teary mucus and beginning to cough as it hit the back of his throat. Kirishima looked over his shoulder at the disturbance but as his lover patted his back hard to clear his lungs the spasms eased Akihito once again rested his forehead against the flat muscles of Asami's chest to catch his breath.

"Does that mean that you..." he started but looking up through aching eyes into that oh so familiar face he saw a fire wall clamp down across any emotion that might have briefly glimmered through and he stopped talking in mid flow. Just shut up Aki he thought and for once his poor hard done to brain listened! No good ever came of him analysing the complex chemistry of their relationship he counselled himself sternly even through his foggy thoughts so instead he mumbled." Thank you."

"You are welcome, you troublesome brat, but birthday or not, " The baritone voice rumbled softly in his ear setting the hair at the back of his neck on edge as if an electric current had run through him as the love of his life looked with suddenly flat eyes at where Dani was watching them anxiously as she hovered nervously at the edge of the dance floor behind Kirishima. " do not **ever** forget even for one minute to whom you belong, kitten!"  Akihito closed his eyes and let the power that was the essence of the man roll around him along with the familiar smell of Dunhill's and designer cologne and as he breathed it in it slid into his lungs like the easy pleasure of coming home. 

Akihito's bones melted as they always did at the familiar purr of the voice and the pain, alcohol, adrenaline and lust swum freely in his veins and up to his already over fuelled brain turning it to mush. His knees suddenly gave up their uneven battle and as his slim legs buckled he grasped at the expensive lapels in front of his face to stabilise himself. He dimly assumed that he must have died and gone to heaven when Asami's strong arms wrapped around his narrow waist to help to keep him upright and he sank forward into the only embrace he did or ever would want.

" I am sorry, Asami," he whispered through the euphoric fog that threatened to engulf his thinking.

"What for now?" Asami said a line of query creasing the normal smoothness of his high forehead. 

"I have got blood all over your favourite Armani suit!" he said dabbing at the mess ineffectively with his gaudy Tshirt but only succeeding on mixing neon orange paint from it into the jacket too. Asami drew in a sharp breath at the sight of the lurid stains but then let it out very slowly and with a faint hiss as a small twisted smile slid slowly across the thin lips and all he said was.

"Welcome home, kitten." 

xxx

"Not exactly as planned," Takato said sitting back against the soft seat in his booth as they watched Kou and the girls bopping around the dance floor their war paint glowing in the strobe lights." but it could have gone worse!" 

"Mmm." his companion agreed from across the table also watching the dancers. 

"At least they are talking again," he continued." and I could almost swear I saw a hint of a smirk on Asami san's face before they left."

"Mmm." the other nodded in agreement.

"Maybe they will cheer up at last." Takato said closing his eyes in relief at a job well done." Any more of Aki's martyred sighs and I might have had to duct tape him up and deliver him to the penthouse myself."

The other sympathised with a roll of his eyes.

"If only we had known earlier that they were both as bad as each other," he continued mournfully." we might have avoided that nasty incident you were telling me about with those smugglers at the docks!" 

The other gave out a long sigh at the gory memory and the subsequent expensive clean up operation.

"Those two are probably arguing even as we speak!" he said with a matching exhalation." Perhaps you should head off and keep an eye on them." 

"Mmm." the other stood and began to head for the exit still writing on his tablet at breakneck speed.

"And thank you for your help." Takato called after him.

"Thank you too," Kirishima said looking back at him." now that we have each others numbers I think next time we should act more quickly to save both energy and lives!" 

"Next time," Takato assured the huge retreating figure."  I will have the zip ties on Aki and he'll be trussed and ready for you to collect as soon as he walks through the door and before he begins to unpack that damned rucksack again!"


End file.
